Developments and trends of Vietnam international merchandise trade in November and the first 11 months of 2012

Data of trade performance in the November of 2012 compiled by Vietnam Customs shows that total merchandise exports and imports of Vietnam went down slightly 1%, to US dollars 20.30 billion. In which, the merchandise export value totaled US dollars 10.35 billion, went up slightly by 0.2% as compared to the performance of previous month. By importation, the total value was 2.1% less than October’s imports of US dollars 10.17 billion. As a result, Vietnam’s trade balance was in the surplus of US dollars 395 million in November, 2012.

Highlights

1. Data of trade performance in the November of 2012 compiled by Vietnam Customs shows that total merchandise exports and imports of Vietnam went down slightly 1%, to US dollars 20.30 billion. In which, the merchandise export value totaled US dollars 10.35 billion, went up slightly by 0.2%ascompared to the performance of previous month. By importation, the total value was2.1%less thanOctober’s imports of US dollars 10.17 billion. As a result, Vietnam’s trade balance was in the surplus of US dollars 395 million in November, 2012.

2. Trade statistics disseminated by General Department of Vietnam Customs recorded a sharp expansion of12.3%in Vietnam’s international trade-in-goods for the Jan.-Nov. period of 2012 , which were summed up to US dollars 207.98 billion. In which, the merchandise export totaled US dollars 104.23billion in value terms, up strongly by 18.9% from November 2011 to November 2012. From January to November 2012, the total merchandise imports value ofUS dollars 103.75 billion was above 6.5% the corresponding period last year. As a result, Vietnam’s trade balance was in the surplus of US dollars 484 million reported for the first 11 months of 2012.

3. According to trade data for exports and imports for Jan.-Nov. period of 2012 disseminated by Vietnam Customs, the value of exportation and importation by foreign direct invested (FDI) traders was summed up to US dollars 112.54 billion, up strongly by 29% and accounting for 54.1% of Vietnam ‘s total external merchandise trade value. Total value of FDI exportation was US dollars 57.9 billion, advanced significantly by 34.6%. Regarding importation, the total value of those traders was US dollars 54.64 billion, up vigorously by 23.5%.

7. Regardingthefollowing chart , the United States was the biggest importer of Vietnamese products with the total value of US dollars 17.9 billion for the first 11 months, 2012;Japanwasthe second biggest one; and then China, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Germany,…

9. China was the biggest partner exporting goods to Vietnam with the value of US dollars 26.1 billion in the first 11 months of 2012, followed by: Republic of Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, …